Metropolitan Zone 12
MZ-12: '''An Initiative-governed region located within the Pacific Northwest of North America, residing in what used to be Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and parts of Alaska. Also known as Cascadia by those living within it. It is the epicenter of a major independence movement and civil war, one of the most important in the post-collapse era. Administrative Capitol: Seattle(currently Population: 70,000,000 Overseer: Osvaldo York(emergency replacement, succeeding Fernando Hashem) Number of Admin seats: 20 As of February 1, 2063 MZ-12 is under a '''state of crisis due to political unrest and violence resulting from a destructive earthquake. Region-wide rebellions and military actions reported. Founding It was first established November 3rd, 2055 when the exiled Federal government made contact with local governors after agreeing to join the Global Prosperity Initiative; with the announcement of the new alliance it was officially listed as a conjoined member under the north american branch of the GPI. It was designated NA:Metropolitan Zone 12, and reconstruction by a joint effort of Archailect sub-units and government workers immediately followed. The Pacific Northwest, like much of the coastal areas in North America, was not too resistant to joining the G-P-I despite a few isolated communities refusing to recognize its legitimacy and committing themselves to hostile actions. All of these isolated communities were eventually assimilated or dissipated into outer country; most of them were followers of a political movement called bioregionalism in the decade just before the collapse. This movement would surface more popular than ever under the GPI. The overseer of MZ-12 was elected to be Fernando Hashem, a provisional lieutenant governor of Washington through the collapse years; he consolidated power with the state national guard and kept the state government alive for those three grueling years. Upon re-contact with the old federal government, now under the wings of the GPI, the once-president Director Montoya selected him to lead the contingent authority. The state government was hybridized to fit in line with the GPI's organizations and is run by the Overseer, his 9 circuits underneath him, and a side-board of Admins who run pieces of the zone. * ~2040s: Rise of the 'Cascadian 5'- tiny group of free thinkers advocating the ideas of bioregionalism, environmentalism, tempering the extreme growth of technology, and uprooting the political corruption of the country. Members: Skyler Hardy, Branson "B.B." Boyd, Toby Hurley, Emerson Hampton, and Kai Ramos. Tenants are as follows: 1. downscale the size of society to be more compatible and cooperative with nature. 2. the development of technology/industry must be tempered so it does not interfere with what is "natural" in the world. After the collapse, all 5 of these philosophers are never heard of again. * Interim(2052-2055): The state government shrinks down to the very core of the cascadian megalopolis, Seattle. Tacoma's city government also survives as it is propped up by a local air force base. * November 2055: Local authority makes contact with national government. Officially incorporated into the Global-Prosperity-Initiative. Designated "Na:MZ-12" * Summer 2056: Rise of the neo-cascadians. Beginning with Nehemiah Pruitt & Amarion Vega, decrying the continuation of environment-harming industry and technology used to encroach on citizens' personal lives. These first philanthropists hope for change in the government to be leveed by the power of the people, through peaceful protests. * September 2056: Amarion Vega is arrested by "peacekeepers" of the regional constabulary. He is placed in custody for "disturbing the public peace and inciting civil discord"- actions he did not commit, but were resultant of his arrest. Over the course of his custody he goes on a hunger strike. His reasons why: "To protest against the new world and its self-destructive ways." Nehemiah Pruitt and lesser followers disperse into the underground, but their popularity grows. * April 2057: Amarion Vega dies of starvation while in custody. He is immortalized as a martyr for the neo-cascadian movement, which skyrockets in popularity. * May 2057-2058: New populist advocates arise: Jaden Edwards hailing from Centralia, Glenn Husain of Seattle. Proteges of Nehemiah Pruitt and his underground movement now growing their own ideas into the ideology; all three believing that a big government was bad, but still hoping it'd listen to their calls for change. Movement grows into the dozen-thousands of supporters. Anti-cascadian movement also sprouts, showing loyalty to the Initiative. * 2058-60: Growing Cascadian underground grooms more philosophers and proponents. Clementine Kent, Nasir Bonner, Arlo Trujillo rise to advocate bioregionalism; separating themselves as wanting a central government to take care of its people, but still wanting to scale down industrialization. The social democrat side to the movement. -Meanwhile: Increased retaliations by Hashem's orders leads to a slow radicalization of the movement. Jaden & Glenn, libertarian proponents, begin to hint at seceding from the Initiative- their biggest piece of evidence that big government goes wrong. Nehemiah does not follow along, neither do the social democrats. A schism is obviously forming in the MZ-12's citizens by now: pro-cascadians, prosperity loyalists, and neutral in between. * 2059-61: political scene escalates as crackdowns and opposition grows. The rising cult icon Rhys Thomson sets off the beginnings of cascadian extremism in the underground. * Spring 2062: The Cascadian Earthquake strikes. Almost all of the infrastructure making up MZ-12 is decimated. Coordination, communication, and social cohesion completely collapses. * May-December 2062: The Cascadian underground radicalizes during this time. Rhys Thomson, Jaden, Glenn, and Nasir now are the frontrunners for the movement; declaring that independence is the only viable option. In the meantime, the regional circuit cabinet begins to fall apart from tensions within itself, and the IID conspiracy grapples over the regional administration. * December 19, '62: Fernando Hashem is captured and executed by members of the Cascadian underground. The movement officially declares itself independent of the G.P.I., naming itself the 'Pacific Republic of Cascadia', and putting the cascadian revolution into full effect. * February 2063: Current date. over the course of the pre-earthquake years as the cascadian movement was growing, Hashem increasingly got closer to the law, security & protection correspondents. One of his first plans with them was to arrest Amarion Vega to hopefully intimidate the movement's leaders, a plan which Osvaldo York, security correspondent, highly disapproved of. However he was forced to go along with it to maintain a united front to the admins and the public. Osvaldo and Hashem often butt heads due to hasham's unsubtle craving for power and as osvaldo put it, "i saw through the facade that hes just a sycophant". Hashem also developed tensions between himself and Donte and Lauren, for he wanted them to cut off certain sectors of MZ-12 off from food shipments and electricity to 'starve out' the high concentrations of dissenters. All circa 2056 and onward.(edited) As the movement grew higher in popularity, especially post-Vega's death and the rise to fame of jaden & glenn, Hashem started having behind-closed-doors meetings with the shady Protection correspondent Efraim King, together orchestrating crackdowns & mapping the landscape of the political underground, as well as "deposing" of political dissenters. Eustacio Espinar, the Law correspondent, also collaborated with the 2 in their 'root-out campaign'. As the years approached 2062, secret meetings between the 3 leaders grew more frequent.